New Zealand retail sales fell in the first three months of the year as people reined in spending on supermarket and grocery items after a spend-up during the Rugby World Cup.
The total volume of spending fell a seasonally adjusted 1.5 per cent to $17.02 billion in the three months ended March 31, according to Statistics New Zealand. That was broadly in line with a 1.4 per cent contraction forecast in a Reuters survey of economists.
Stripping out motor vehicle-related spending, core retail sales volumes dropped 2.5 per cent to $13.28 billion, the biggest decline since the series began in 1995.
The bulk of the loss came from a 7.4 per cent decline in the volume of sales at supermarkets and grocery stores to a seasonally adjusted $4.04 billion, the smallest quarterly volume since September 2010. That was the sharpest fall for those stores since the series started, and snapped two quarterly gains.
In value terms, which accounts for both volume and price movements, spending at supermarkets and groceries dropped 6.2 per cent to a seasonally adjusted $4.18 billion. Prices rose 1.6 per cent in the quarter.